Britain’s best boss has given each of his workers £750 to help them cope with the cost of living crisis.
James Hipkins, 51, managing director of Emerys Timber and Builders Merchants, splashed out £45,000 in total on 60 members of staff.
The boss said he knows "everyone is suffering” and wanted to “share back” the success of the business, which has depots in Staffordshire and Shropshire.
It comes as energy bills rose by hundreds of pounds last week, after the regulator Ofgem upped its price cap for those with typical use by £693.
Council tax bills have also risen by 3.5% on average for a Band D home, while water bills have gone up too.
James, a dad-of-three from Cheshire, told The Sun the bonus payments to staff to help them through the rising prices was worth every penny.
"With everybody struggling we just thought we want to share some of that good fortune with the staff," he said.
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"They weren’t expecting it and they were overjoyed. I think they’ve found it’s a great help when everything’s a bit bleak."
Other bills that have gone up in price include your broadband and mobile tariff, while mortgage repayments have increased for those on a tracker rate that goes up or down in line with inflation.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate of inflation has just surged to 6.2% and there are predictions that it will keep on rising this year.
CPI is the rate at which the prices of goods and services bought rise or fall. The Bank of England has a target of 2% inflation.
On top of rising bills, workers will pay more in National Insurance from this Wednesday (April 6) as an increase to how much tax you pay comes into effect.
National Insurance payments are increasing by 1.25 percentage points from April 6, up from from 12% to 13.25%.
At the moment, you pay National Insurance on earnings above £9,568 a year but the threshold for when you start paying is rising to £9,880 from next week.
The rate at which you start paying will then rise again to £12,570 - but not until July 6 - meaning more low income workers will keep more pay in their pockets, although not for a few months yet.
The increase will save the “typical employee” around £330 a year and will benefit almost 30 million working people, according to HM Treasury.
It says 70% of those who pay National Insurance will pay less from July, while 2.2 million people will pay nothing at all.
